James Bond the Life Worth Living by Rev

James Bond The Life Worth Living By Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof During the 1992 televised debate between Vice Presidential candidates Al Gore, Dan Quail, and billionaire populist Ross Perot’s choice for a running mate, James Stockdale, the latter introduced himself to the nation by uttering two questions; Who am I? Why am I here? They were the perfect questions to set the nation at ease with this unfamiliar, unvetted Washington outsider. Almost everyone had been wondering the same thing about Stockdale, who was he and why was he Perot’s pick? The live audience laughed and his self-deprecating humor, which also immediately endeared him to viewers all over the country. Unfortunately for Stockdale, and Ross Perot, his moment as a wise, funny, white-headed grandfatherly figure didn’t last long. As the evening transpired his inability to intelligibly answer questions just as quickly turned him into a national joke, including being portrayed on Saturday Night Live as a befuddled, senile, old man by comedian Phil Hartman. He became the Sarah Palin of his day. By the time the debate was over, perhaps the only people left whom Stockdale had permanently endeared himself to were the nation’s philosophers, whose minds were made up about him almost the moment he started speaking. He had us with, Who am I? Why am I here? Today, even those unfamiliar with philosophy understand these are quintessential philosophical questions—perennial questions dating back thousands of years. We can trace them back at least to Athens in the 4th century BCE, about 300 years after philosophy simultaneously began in Greece, China, and India. Prior to this, philosophy professor, William Irvine says, “philosophers were primarily interested in explaining the world around them— and the phenomenon of that world—in doing what we would now call science.”1 This changed when Socrates came long in the 4th century BCE, whom, as one translator puts it, “was the first to call philosophy down from the heavens and set her in the cities of men to ask questions about life and morality and things good and evil.”2 In his general introduction to The Stoic and Epicurean Philosophers, W.J. Oates, who describes philosophy, “as the speculative spirit of inquiry into the of life and the universe,” confirms, “In its earlier stages the orientation of philosophy was to the external world.”3 Philosophers initially tried to figure out its physics and how things worked. Thales thought it was made of water, Anaximenes said it was air, and Heraclitus argued fire was the primary element within all things. It wasn’t long before Democritus became the first person in history to come up with an atomic theory of reality, way back in the 5th century BCE. Of course, that was the Golden Age of Greek civilization, when the Athenians could enjoy the freedom to make such speculations. A hundred year later, after the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, Athens lay in ruins, its countryside destroyed, widespread poverty ensued, and the citizens of Greece’s strongest city-state ever became completely subjugated. With the breakdown of 1 Irvine, William B., A Guide to the Good Life, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 2009, p. 19. 22 Ibid. 3 Oates, W.J., The Stoic and Epicurean Philosophers, Random House, New York, NY, 1940, p. xiii. James Bond: The Life Worth Living the small Greek city-state,” Samuel Enoch Stumpf writes, “individual citizens lost the sense of their own importance and their ability to control or perfect their social and political destiny. Individuals increasingly felt this loss over collective life as they were absorbed into the growing Roman Empire.”4 Broken, oppressed, despondent, always anxious about the future, the Greeks were no longer interested in theoretical speculations about the nature of reality, for they already knew too well the painful nature of their own reality. “What they needed,” Stumpf says, “was a practical philosophy to give life direction under changing conditions… Philosophy, therefore, shifted to this practical emphasis in a mood of increasing concern for the immediate world of the individual.”5 As one of those ancient philosophers, Epictetus, said, “What do I care whether all existing things are composed of atoms, or of indivisibilities, or of fire and earth? Is it not enough to learn the true nature of the good and the evil?”6 Epictetus represents one of a handful of philosophies at the time that began emphasizing ataraxia, which means, “peace of mind,” the philosophy I want to talk about today, Stoicism. To do so, I thought it might be fun to talk about one of my favorite stoics, James Bond, who relies upon its wisdom to survive a horrible ordeal. His fans may have read about the time he was piloting a small plane over enemy territory. He always keeps a copy of Epictetus’ Handbook with him, much of which he’s memorized. Epictetus was born a Roman slave around 50 CE, only to become one of the most revered Stoic philosophers of all time. James Bond discovered him while studying International Relations at the university and, feeling bored, wandered into the philosophy department where a kindly professor gave him a copy of Epictetus’ writings. His philosophy can almost be summed up in a line my stoic friend Dan Eacret often says, “You’ve got to take the hand you’re dealt and play it the best you can,” which, for the Stoic, means being your best even in the worst of times. James Bond had just been thinking of something Epictetus said when he was dealt and unexpectedly bad hand; his aircraft was struck by enemy fire, forcing him to eject. As his parachute opens and he realizes he’s floating down into enemy hands, he thinks, “I’m leaving the world of technology and entering the world of Epictetus.”7 Before saying more about what happens next, I should tell you I’ve been playing a bit of a trick. For I’m not talking about the familiar James Bond character created by fiction writer, Ian Flemming in 1953. I’m talking about the original James Bond, the real James Bond, born thirty years earlier, in 1923. I’m talking about James Bond Stockdale, the same bumbling debater who may have single-handedly ruined Ross Perot’s chances of ever becoming President of the United States. During a speech on Stoicism that he later gave before the U.S. 4 Stumpf, Samuel Enoch, Philosophy: History and Problems, 3rd ed., McGraw Hill Book Company, New York, NY, 1971, 1983, p. 106. 5 Ibid. 6 Stockdale, James B., The Stoic Warrior’s Triad: Tranquility, Fearlessness, and Freedom, A lecture to the student body of the Marine Amphibian Warfare School, Quantico, VA, April 18, 1995. 7 Stockdale, James B., Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus’ Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior, Speech delivered at the Great Hall, King’s College, London, Monday, November 15, 1993, p. 7. 2 James Bond: The Life Worth Living Navel Academy, the retired Vice Admiral, the only three-star navel officer in history to wear both aviator wings and the Medal honor, along with two Flying Crosses, three Distinguished Service medals, four Silver Stars, and two Purple Hearts, began by explaining; When I debated Al Gore and Dan Quayle on television in October 1992, as candidates for Vice President, I began my remarks with two questions that are perennially debated by every thinking human being: Who am I? Why am I here? The questions were relevant in terms of the evening’s purpose, which was to introduce myself and let the American people know where I was coming from. But I also chose them for their broader relevance to my life: I am a philosopher.8 In addition to his extraordinary military honors, after retiring from the Navy, James Bond Stockdale served as President of the Citadel for a year and as a college professor in Stanford University’s philosophy department, where he served as a senior research fellow of Stoicism for 15 years. He also held 11 honorary degrees and many other honors too numerous to mention here. And a few years prior to that infamous 1992 debate, he’d already been portrayed on TV by another famous actor, James Wood, in a 1987 movie based on the book, In Love and War, cowritten with his wife Sybil, about her fight for humane treatment of POWs during Vietnam. Once on the ground, James Bond Stockdale was immediately mobbed and brutally beaten, his arms bound tight behind his back, forcing him to walk hunched almost in half, with a badly broken leg that would hobble him for the rest of his life. Stoicism’s first principle, which Epictetus’ Handbook begins with, is, “Some things are up to us and some are not up to us.”9 Learning to distinguish between what we can and can’t control is the essence of Stoic wisdom. What is, “Up to me,” Stockdale understood, even during the panic of his capture, his body broken and inflamed, his fate uncertain, though certainly not good, “within my power, within my will, are my opinions, my aims, my aversions, my own grief, my own joy, my attitude about what is going on, my own good, and my own evil.”10 It was this belief, no matter how harsh his circumstances, no matter how brutally he was treated, he could remain master of his fate that allowed James Bond Stockdale to survive nearly eight years of imprisonment, torture, leg irons, and solitary confinement, without losing his soul or his sanity.

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